A convenient, efficient means of transporting a load over a distance where no existing means of transport is available has many applications. Perhaps most notably, a device or system capable of such transport can be used to extract people from inaccessible locations, such as from a high-rise building. The 9/11 disaster affirmed the need for a device or system capable from extracting people from a building when those people are trapped by structural failure, fire, or other circumstances. Though the 9/11 disaster is the most high-profile instance where a device or system in accordance with the present invention might have saved lives, such situations arise regularly. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, 86 lives were lost some years ago when the Dupont Plaza Hotel caught fire. In 1980, 85 people died when the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. burned. In the latter instance, lives were lost primarily due to poisonous gas and smoke rising through elevator shafts. Helicopters were used in both cases to lift people from rooftops, and a small number were saved using this method. But the availability of helicopters on alert and capable of lifting large numbers of people is small and, in some locales, may be non-existent. Additionally, the use of helicopters in the burning building environment presents an additional danger due to heat, smoke, and turbulence caused by fire and wind currents that normally exist around tall buildings.
In the case of the 9/11 disaster, elevators were unusable, leaving emergency stairwells or windows as the only means of escape from the building. Use of windows is unacceptable unless a fire truck ladder can reach the window in question, often not the case in extremely tall buildings. Stairwells are slow and firemen have to use the same stairs to reach the upper floors, leading to crowding in the stairwells such that firemen are hindering the movement of people down the stairwells and to the outside, and people fleeing the building hinder the movement of firemen up the stairway to fight the fire. Further, stairwells may not be an option for disabled persons, and moving injured people down a stairwell is difficult.
The need for a device or system of extracting people from buildings is not limited to a fire situation. Partial building collapse as a result of an earthquake or faulty construction can lead to a similar need. Partial collapse of a building causes survivors to be trapped on the upper floors where it is difficult and dangerous for them to attempt to extract themselves or for rescue personnel to reach them.
In addition to rescue scenarios, a need exists for an efficient, independent means of moving a load vertically or horizontally across a distance. For example, it is generally necessary to move loads across a distance during the construction of high-rise buildings, bridges, and the like.
In any of the scenarios above, it is desirable that the device or system of transport be truly independent in that it have its own power supply, means of locomotion, and the like. Such a device is also needed for transport of materials in space, or as a “space elevator.” Also needed is a means of moving a load along mine shafts or extracting persons therefrom. In addition to extraction, there is also a need for a system or device for placing persons at a location or allowing surveillance therefrom. These and other needs are met by the present invention, as will be detailed more fully below.